Vitamix Tortilla Soup Recipe

The Vitamix Tortilla Soup Recipe is an all-time favorite of many!  If you’ve seen a Vitamix Demonstration, you have most likely tasted the Vitamix Tortilla Soup. My recipe is very different from the demonstration version.  It is creamier, and has more flavor because of “secret” ingredients! Lucky for you, I’m going to let you in on the “secrets” that make the recipe an all-time favorite crowd-pleaser (they are the ingredients in red italics).

The foundation of my recipe came from the bottle of Blend It Up Southwest Spice (sold by Vitamix Demonstrators in most Road Shows). You can get a 20% discount if you Shop Here, and use Coupon Code: BlenderLady

In shows we jokingly call this “Must Go Soup” (whatever is in your refrigerator that “Must Go” can be used).  The “must goes” are usually added at the end for texture.

Vitamix Tortilla Soup Recipe

INGREDIENTS FOR THE BROTH:

• Carrot – 1 regular, medium sized
• Celery – 1 stalk
• Green Cabbage – 1 small wedge, about a cup
• Red Pepper – 1/4 (you can include 1/4 of the seeds)!
• Zucchini and Yellow Squash (Optional) – 1/2″ to 1/3″ slices
• Tomatoes – 2-3 Roma (a much better flavored tomato is the Campari – 6-8 small or 4-5 large)
• Cilantro – to taste (I use the leaves off of 2 stems)
• Garlic – 1 small clove if raw, 2-3 cloves if roasted
• Jalapeño Pepper – to taste. Leave this out if you don’t like spicy! (I don’t use this in shows)
• Sea Salt – to taste. (I use 1 tsp.)
• Blend-It-Up Southwest Spice – 1 Tbs. (coupon code BlenderLady gets you a 20% discount)
• Vegetable Boullion – 1 cube (I use Rapunzel Brand)
• Cheese – 1″ cube (Optional)
• Avocado – 1/4 (a great tasting, non-dairy alternative to cheese) I use Avocado in all of my shows.
• Lemon – VERY small, just a hint of tart is what we are after.  You can use the rind when using such a small amount.  It should be about 1/2 the size of the Lemon they put on your glass of water in a restaurant.
• Dates – 2-3
• Sun Dried Tomatoes – a pinch, up to 1/4 cup  (Adds thickness, and amazing extra tomato flavor)!
• Water – see Recipe Notes

INGREDIENT OPTIONS FOR “MUST GOES”:

• Chicken – cooked, pre-chopped
• Black Beans – cooked
• Corn – cooked
• Spinach – raw hand full
• Ground Beef – makes this taste like a very healthy chili
• Mushrooms – cooked or raw
• Rice – cooked
• Broccoli – cooked
• Corn Chips
• etc.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE BROTH:

Load the Vitamix container with the ingredients you are going to use except water. Be sure they are “roughly” chopped. Add water to the 3 cup line. This isn’t 3 cups of water – the food already in the container displaces some of the water. If you used a lot of sun dried tomatoes, you might want to bump the water up to the 4 cup line, because sun dried tomatoes will make the broth very thick.  Adjust water based on the texture you like. You will have to make this soup a couple of times to find out how much water works best for you.

Even though the machine can turn cold water into nearly boiling (over 200°), I usually use my hot pot to pre-heat the water.  This saves blending time, and a lot of loud noise!  When I’m running the Vitamix for a long time, I usually take my wind-up timer with me and leave the room. 🙂

Blend on high until the temperature goes back up (the room temperature or cold vegetables will cool off the hot water). Also don’t go from “off” to “high speed” all at once… start on variable speed low, turn the dial up to high, then flip the switch to high. If you have a Next Generation model, Variable Speed #10 is the same as High. I don’t blend too long because I don’t want to cook the vegetables any more than I have to, however, you can blend as long as you like to get the soup to the temperature you want. Feel the container – you can tell when the container is getting nice and hot!

IMPORTANT NOTE:

This broth can get “foamy” (due to the acid in the tomatoes). To remove “foam” from this or any Vitamix creation, turn the machine down to Variable Speed #1 and turn it on. Remove the lid and look down into the container. SLOWLY increase the speed until you see a very small vortex (hole) form in the middle. Once you see that hole do not increase the speed. Let it run at that speed for a while. The hole will most likely get bigger (as the air bubbles are pulled down towards the blades, and pop). As the hole gets bigger, lower the variable speed again.  Keep at this for a while. You might end up lowering the speed to keep the hole in the middle small a couple of times. This should remove most of the foam!

A very small pinch of baking soda added during the “de-foaming” process above will help remove air bubbles, and will also help cut the acid for people who are sensitive to acid in tomatoes.  This trick also works for the acid in coffee! Use only a tiny pinch of baking soda – try it, you will be amazed at how smooth your coffee will taste!

INSTRUCTIONS FOR ADDING THE “MUST GOES”:

The “Must Goes” are added for texture. After you have heated your broth by blending on high, you can lower the variable speed down to #1. While the blades are spinning at variable speed #1, add whatever you want for texture, and the blades will chop it up for you!

If you like your soups hot, you will want to pre-heat your “must goes” or they will cool down your soup when you add them. Raw spinach is the only exception.

At a show, I use spinach and organic corn chips as my “must goes”.  At home I also use cooked chicken, black beans and corn. On the lower variable speeds, the machine will shred the cooked chicken right in the soup (I like letting the Vitamix do the work for me)!

If you are going to add raw spinach, do it as your first “must go”. A hand full of raw spinach requires Variable Speed #3-5 to get nicely chopped. This would be too fast for the other “must goes”, so it is best to do the spinach first, then for the best texture, slow down to variable speed #1 and add the rest of your “must goes”.

At a show I use the lower variable speeds to chop the tortilla chips into the soup (because the samples will be consumed right away while they are still crunchy), at home, we crumble the tortilla chips by hand on top of everyone’s bowl of soup.

RECIPE NOTES:

If you don’t have the Blend It Up Southwest Spice, you can make a 50/50 blend of Cumin and any Organic Taco Seasoning mix you can find.

If the Blend It Up Southwest Spice Mix is too spicy for your taste, cut it to 1/2 Tbs. and add 1/2 Tbs of Cumin.

The Vitamix heats, but does not “cook” raw foods. In other words, it will make hot, raw tasting soup. It will not develop the flavor of cooked foods. This is the only recipe I’ve ever found that uses raw veggies, that still tastes good to me. For all other veggie soups, I cook the veggies in some way before making soup (either roast, sauté, steam, boil, etc.). Many people like to roast the ingredients for this soup before blending.

This is the brand of Sun Dried Tomatoes I use Click here. (affiliate link)

You may wonder why I use dates. Look at a can of commercial tomato soup, and you’ll most likely find high fructose corn syrup in there! A touch of sweet, and a touch of tart (from the lemon) add balance and a rich mouth feel to the spicy and savory flavors in this soup!  The lemon and dates are the “extra” special “secret” ingredients! 🙂

I peel my carrots.

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If you have any questions about this Vitamix Tortilla Soup Recipe, please ask them in the comment section below.

If you’ve tried this recipe and love it, please share your thoughts below with others! 🙂

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